The Bullroarer Atlas

EUROPE-008 - museum specimen

León zumbador (bramadera)

Spain - Castilla y Leon - Europe - Iberia

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The zumbador itself: a small oval piece of encina (holm oak) wood on a leather cord, from León.
The zumbador itself: a small oval piece of encina (holm oak) wood on a leather cord, from León. Image source

zumbador / bramadera Spanish

Source term: ZUMBADOR (Bramadera)

Spanish names for the bullroarer, both built from the sound it makes: bramadera from bramar, to roar or bellow like the wind, and zumbador from zumbar, to buzz or hum.

Etymology. `Zumbador` is a Spanish sound-name for a buzzing or humming object; `bramadera` is the Spanish rhombus/bullroarer term used in the Joaquin Diaz object label. (medium confidence)

A bullroarer of holm-oak wood and leather from León, in the Fundación Joaquín Díaz collection: a flat blade seven by nine centimetres on a cord that brings the whole to 89.5 centimetres, with a slit cut into the back and a central hole. In Spanish the instrument is named twice over for its sound — bramadera, from bramar, to roar like the wind, and zumbador, from zumbar, to buzz. Who last whirled it in León, and why, the collection did not keep.

Tiene una hendidura en el reverso y un agujero central.

It has a slit on the back and a central hole.

Fundación Joaquín Díaz collection, identifier 67
Object
Folk bullroarer in the Joaquin Diaz collection; wood and leather, total length 89.5 cm with cord; wooden piece 7 x 9 cm.
Function
A sound-toy of the bramadera/zumbador family, named for the roar (bramar) and buzz (zumbar) it makes; elsewhere in Iberia the type is a children's toy and seasonal bird-scarer (Donostia 1952; Barandiarán 1974). For León itself no use was set down.
Map confidence
medium - Representative Leon city/province anchor; source localizes to Leon/Castilla y Leon rather than a findspot.
Source location
Instrument identifier 67

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